In the Ditch (novel)

In the Ditch is a 1972 novel written by Nigerian writer Buchi Emecheta. It was first published on New Statesman as a regular column then published in 1972 by Allison & Busby in London,^[1] where her editor was Margaret Busby.^[2]

In the Ditch

Author	Buchi Emecheta
Language	English
Series	African Writers Series
Genre	Literary fiction
Set in	Nigeria, London
Publisher	Allison & Busby
Publication date	1972
Publication place	Nigeria
Media type	Print (paperback)
Followed by	Second Class Citizen

Background

In the Ditch is the debut novel of writer Buchi Emecheta. The book is partly autobiographical and was inspired by Emecheta's personal experiences as a Nigerian woman who experienced poverty as a single mother.^[3] She stated that she felt the book was "[her] sixth child" and was born after she decided to write what she knew, basing her work on her real life experiences.^[4]

After Emecheta began writing about episodes from her own life, a friend suggested she pitch them to Richard Crossman, who was editor of the New Statesman at the time. Emecheta began typing up weekly "Observations" which she sent to Crossman, who published them as a regular column.^[5]

Emecheta's husband at the time attempted to undermine her writing, and destroyed her first manuscript of The Bride Price, which was later rewritten and published in 1976. Because of this, Emecheta ended up writing and publishing In the Ditch, about her life after separating from her husband, as her first novel.^[6]

In The Ditch deals with themes of racism, sexism, classism and poverty through the lens of Emecheta's experiences as an immigrant in the welfare system.^[7][8][9] In particular, it focuses on the systemic injustices faced by working-class women in Britain, who were subjected to domestic abuse and double standards at the societal level.^[5]

Plot summary

The story is about Adah, a Nigerian who married a Londoner. Her husband decides to go back to Nigeria but the wife refuses. The man then leaves for Nigeria; abandoning his wife and five children in London. The wife now has to depend on state welfare and double jobs in order to survive with her children.

References

1. "In the Ditch | work by Emecheta". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
2. Busby, Margaret (3 February 2017). "Buchi Emecheta obituary". The Guardian.
3. Bekers, Elisabeth (2021). "Experimenting in the Ditch: Buchi Emecheta's Early Novels of Transformation". In Radford, Andrew; Van Hove, Hannah (eds.). British Experimental Women's Fiction, 1945—1975: Slipping Through the Labels. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 257–278. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-72766-6_12. ISBN 978-3-030-72766-6. S2CID 238920064. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
4. Emecheta, Buchi (1982). "A Nigerian writer living London". Kunapipi. 4 (1). University of Wollongong Research Online. ISSN 0106-5734.
5. Scholes, Lucy (28 February 2019). "Re-Covered: In the Ditch". The Paris Review. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
6. Jussawalla, Feroza F.; Dasenbrock, Reed Way (1992). Interviews with Writers of the Post-colonial World. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 84–85. ISBN 978-0-87805-572-2.
7. Olúbùnmi Smith, Pamela J. (1995). "In the Ditch" (PDF). Goodrich Scholarship Faculty Publications. University of Nebraska at Omaha.
8. Bruner, Charlotte (1986). "The Other Audience: Children and the Example of Buchi Emecheta". African Studies Review. 29 (3): 129–140. doi:10.2307/524087. ISSN 0002-0206. JSTOR 524087. S2CID 144394645.
9. Umeh, Marie (1980). "African Women in Transition in The Novels of Buchi Emecheta". Présence Africaine. 116 (4): 190. doi:10.3917/presa.116.0190. ISSN 0032-7638.

External links

• Margaret Busby, "Where to start with: Buchi Emecheta", The Guardian, 20 March 2024.